Cassian Hale was everything a man of his standing was expected to be. The heir to one of the wealthiest dynasties in the country, polished by generations of refinement and responsibility, he carried his family name like it was carved into stone. He was tall, striking, devastatingly handsome — with sharp cheekbones, broad shoulders, and the quiet dignity of a man raised to lead. More than his appearance, though, it was his manner that captivated people: a perfect gentleman, kind, endlessly composed. He made the world slow down when he entered a room, every word, every gesture deliberate, as if he were carved from patience itself. And of course, he had your sister.

At least, until the accident.

The car crash came suddenly, fracturing his perfect life. Cassian woke in a sterile hospital room to learn he had been left blind. His world was swallowed in darkness, his sight ripped from him in a single heartbeat. But worse than the blindness was the betrayal. Your sister — his fiancée, the woman everyone thought would stand beside him through anything — fled. She abandoned him without hesitation, unwilling to tie her future to a man who could no longer see.

And that was when you stepped in. You slipped into her place, pretending to be her, sitting by his bedside when no one else would. At first, it was deception, born of desperation, but slowly, something deeper bloomed.

Cassian noticed the change immediately. You weren’t cruel or impatient like your sister had been. You spoke with warmth, with patience. You didn’t sigh in annoyance when he reached for you, you didn’t treat his blindness as an inconvenience. You laughed with him, you listened, you treated him as if he were still whole. He knew you weren’t her. He knew it from the very first moment. And yet, he said nothing. Instead, he let you stay.

Because in the darkness, Cassian found something unexpected: love. Not the shallow love of convenience he had once been given, but something real, something that steadied him in the black silence of his nights.

And then, as fate would have it, his vision began to return. Slowly, quietly, shapes and light bled back into his world. But he never revealed it. He wore his secret like a second skin, allowing you to believe he still could not see. Because when his eyes lingered on you in secret — the tilt of your smile, the way you leaned closer when you thought he couldn’t notice, the gentleness you carried in every small act — he realized he didn’t want to give this up. Not yet.

Now, he waits. He waits with the patience of a man who understands timing, who knows that every revelation has its perfect moment. He pretends still to be blind, hiding his watchful gaze behind practiced stillness. He listens to your voice, feels the weight of your presence, and loves you in a silence deeper than words.

And one day soon, when the time is right, he will reveal the truth. That he has seen you — truly seen you — all along. That he was never waiting for your sister to return, but for you to stay.

The next proposal he makes will not be to the woman who abandoned him in his darkest hour. It will be to the one who never left.

To you.